Noisy scenes in WB House as Left stages walkout

Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly on Monday
witnessed noisy scenes as opposition Left Front members rushed
to the well and later staged a walk-out when Speaker Biman
Bandopadhyay turned down their adjournment motion on the issue
of plight of farmers in the state.

The Speaker, however, allowed Mishra to read an edited
version of the motion which said many farmers have decided not
to go for boro cultivation owing to black marketing of
fertilisers and irregularities in the supply of seeds. This
was affecting agriculture production.

It said the tendency to take loans is increasing among
farmers and they are becoming frustrated. There are have been
instances of farmers suicide. Farmers are feeling insecure and
the state government has failed to control the situation.

After reading the motion, Mishra went on to demand an
adjournment, but the Speaker said the points raised in the
motion did not call for an adjournment as those points have
been discussed on earlier occasions.

Besides, the Opposition can discuss the points through
mentions, calling attentions and questions, the Speaker said.

Left Front members then rushed to the well and walked
around the reporters` table shouting slogans. Some Trinamool
Congress members replied with catcalls.

The Speaker continued with the business of the House,
but nothing could be heard in the din.

After shouting slogans for about half an hour, the Front
members walked out of the House for the day as Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee was moving the West Bengal
Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, seeking to
raise the allowances of ministers.

Later, Mishra told newsmen that the Speaker had
refused to admit the adjournment motions of the opposition for
three consecutive sessions since the Mamata Banerjee-led
government came to power.

He said that the points raised in the adjournment
motion today had not been discussed before in the Assembly
under the new government.

``Sadly, I cannot make this government understand the
difference between a mention and an adjournment motion. Or it
may be that they are refusing to understand the difference
with a purpose,`` Mishra observed.

While fertilisers were selling at much higher rates
than the printed retail price, the government was not
increasing the procurement price of crops, he said.

Pointing out that the credit-deposit ratio in the
state was among the lowest, he said banks seldom advanced the
required loans to farmers.

``It is for the government to look at all this. But
they get annoyed when we gather the information on the ground
realities and pass it on to them for redressal,`` he said.

Asked whether the Speaker was playing a partisan
role, he said, ``I do not want to comment on the role of the
Speaker. But you will see, everytime he has to say something,
he looks towards his right at the Treasury Bench.``